The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger, is as great a romance as The Notebook and a smart time-travel story to rival Dean Koontz.

Like all romances that endure the critics of time, The Time Traveler’s Wife is not sentimental or gushy. Niffenegger’s prose is subtle and truthful, making the story wholly believable despite the unbelievable premise. Unwillingly, Henry is tossed through time to moments of both his past and future. These journeys are not made through a clever time machine or generation hopping car. No, Henry is flawed at the molecular level, and his jumps are agonizing, embarrassing experiences. He appears in strange locations, naked and confused, sometimes in the dead of winter with no prospect of shelter. He doesn’t know how long he will stay or where the next unwanted trip will take him. Only the prospect of seeing Clare in her various incarnations of child and woman, keep him from coming completely unglued.

Despite their unusual first meeting when Clare was but a child, or perhaps because of it, they share a bond that is unbreakable by time. This is doubly poignant in a story that creates time as a character in itself—a selfish and occasionally silly or sinister character.

The simplicity of the story builds expectations for the reader, expectations that will eventually be fulfilled, but not before a complete shattering of hope. Henry’s last time-jumps evoke childhood nightmares that would terrify the monsters under the bed. And yet, his gift of time, a gift he once cursed, becomes his last link to the family he loves.

The Time Traveler’s Wife is truly Between the Cracks Literature. It crosses genres as well as expectations. It is sweet and satirical, passionate and frightening. Both men and women will find this story intriguing. Where, oh where, do you put such a novel on the bookstore shelves?